Our Story, Part 2

Now on to the best part of our story...well at least so far :)

April 2009. A few days into April Payton returned to Hawaii and once again a countdown started to when I would see him again. Right now I had one thing to really focus on, graduation. It was hard to stay focused. In just a couple months I would be getting married and moving to Hawaii. Who wants to study instead of plan their wedding?? Oh and forgot to mention in my last post that just a day before Payton came home for R & R one of my very best friends, Jodi, got engaged. Yes, we were planning our weddings at the same time! :) Again, who wants to study??? lol I am very happy to say that I did study, I did pass, and on April 24, 2009 I graduated from college with a B.S. in Accounting. Wow, I was officially done with school for every. Now it was time to fully focus on wedding planning! YAY!!!!!

May 16, 2009. Ok this isn't part of our story, but I had to throw this in. On this day I had the pleasure of being a bridesmaid in Jodi & Shane's wedding! It was a beautiful wedding and the bride was glowing. I can not even begin to tell you how much I miss her and our other best friend, Laura. Life is just not the same without them.

June 26, 2009. Rehersal day! And what a busy day it was. just 3 weeks before the wedding Payton got approval to come home. However, it was only for a weekend pass which meant he would be in at 11am Friday and we had to head back to Hawaii Monday morning! On top of this quick little visit, we had yet to get our marriage license! So I picked Payton up from the airport and we went straight to the court house. Thankfully things went quickly and easily. We were officially ready to be married the next day. Off to the church we went :) The rehersal went well and afterwards Payton's parents had a big dinner for all of us at the Sirloin Stockade. The decorations in our party room were adorable!! My mother-in-law did such a great job with them and we all had a great time! Afterwards, the guys went off to a movie and us girls went to Laura's and played the Wii. Guys at the movies, girls playing video games....kinda backwards, huh? :)

June 27, 2009. THE BIG DAY WAS HERE!!! After 18 long months, the countdown was over. In just a few hours I would be Mrs. Payton Johnson! There is not a single bad memory that comes with this day. I heard so many wedding horror stories of hair going wild, dresses being messed up, someone being late, rings getting lost....yikes! None of that happened, or at least if it did no one told me haha Everything was perfect! The decorations were gorgeous and exactly what I wanted. The cake was amazing and the best tasting cake I have ever had! My dress was....wow! Seriously, if I can ever find reason to wear it again I would do it in an instant. And it would never have been as beautiful without my Grandma's help! She added lots and lots of extra beading that gave it that perfect amount of sparkle. She also made my matching veil! I felt more beautiful than I ever have in my life! My bridesmaids looked perfect, I loved their dresses! The guys looked so handsome! Then there was my groom. :) To be honest he could have been wearing anything and he would have looked amazing. Just having him there was incredible. We were engaged 18 months and spent 40 days total together during that entire time. But there he was standing tall and proud in his Class A's! The church was PACKED! I couldn't believe how many people there were! The ceremony itself went off with out a hitch. Well almost...haha I put Payton's ring on his right hand, but he nicely takes the blame for that because it's the hand he held out to me. I was a little embarrassed, but it makes for a fun memory :-P
As I look back I can honestly say it was the best day of my life. I wouldn't have changed a single thing. Even looking back a year later I am so happy with our wedding!!

So what did we do for our first anniversary? We went on a Train Ride the took us down a small portion of the west coast. Then we went to church and afterwards went out to Outback for dinner. Now we are watching TV and eating giant Chocolate Chip Cookies :) On Saturday we will be taking a Dolphin Watching/Snorkeling/Sunset cruise. That's our big Anniversary celebration and the reason we didn't buy gifts for each other. I am so very excited to see Dolphins! That is the one and only thing on my "Must do before leaving Hawaii" list haha I can't wait!

Well thanks to everyone who cared enough to read this. I sure enjoyed writing it!